Iomega Z100Plus Parallel Port drive

COMPLETE with parallel cables and also original power supply. Used – last known to be in good working order.

The Zip drive is a removable floppy disk storage system that was introduced by Iomega in late 1994. Considered medium-to-high-capacity at the time of its release, Zip disks were originally launched with capacities of 100 MB, then 250 MB, and then 750 MB.

The format likewise became the most popular of the super-floppy products which filled a niche market in the late 1990s portable storage market. However, it was never popular enough to replace the ​31⁄2-inch floppy disk. The final versions of the disk reached 750 MB, the capacity available on re-writable CDs, which was far surpassed by the later re-writable DVDs. USB flash drives ultimately proved to be the most popular re-writable storage medium among the general public due to the near-ubiquity of USB ports on personal computers and soon after because of the far greater storage sizes offered. Zip drives fell out of favor for mass portable storage during the early 2000s. The Zip brand later covered internal and external CD writers known as Zip-650 or Zip-CD, which have no relation to the Zip drive.

How to Connect an Iomega Zip Drive With Parallel Interface to a USB Port on a Computer

Earlier models of the Iomega Zip drive used an external parallel port connection, as opposed to the later drives’ USB and Firewire connections. Similarly, you can convert the parallel port to an USB connection using a parallel-to-USB adapter. Several companies make this type of adapter, but all work in a similar fashion. Put the adapter on the Iomega Zip drive, then connect it to the USB port.

Step 1

Connect the parallel end of the parallel-to-USB adapter to your Iomega Zip drive.

Step 2

Next, plug the Iomega Zip drive into power.

Finally, connect the other end of the parallel-to-USB adapter in to your computer’s USB port. Wait for the computer to recognize the drive as a mass storage device before attempting to access it by going to “Start” and “Computer.”